1987 Holden Calais Reviews

Summary:

Find a looked after turbo example and your laughing

Faults:

-Air flow meter blew, cost $35 for a new one

-Timing has gone out a few times, just needed a tune to fix

-Extreme amount of compressor surge (flutter) sometimes mean the car can stall if accelerated heavily then instantly stopping and pushing the clutch in, problem would be fixed by going for an after market ECU (which removes the air flow meter, cause of this problem)

General Comments:

Very well built car, mine is a lightly modified example with around 200rear wheel kw which I believe is perfect street power. This car has great Japanese performance for those who don't wish to own an import.

The gearboxes are great, I have been running 200rwkw through my box which is actually from a non turbo VL (!!) and it has not given in yet.

12th Nov 2016, 14:34

The flutter problem also appeared on mine as well. Inline 6 Nissan with factory fitted turbo bolted on (without any adjustments to the cruise control, which became an adventure).

However mine was an automatic. Sometimes when idling slowly, if I stomped it the power would surge then die down, felt like it was being dragged down by something in the engine bay. Revs would drop to zero and the car would either stall, or start off very slowly at minimum revs and take its sweet time to power up.

1987 Holden Calais VL 3.0 from Australia and New Zealand

Summary:

Visually appealing and powerful at the same time

Faults:

Alternator broke.

The Oxygen Sensor broke.

High beams no longer work.

General Comments:

The car has a 2 1/2 inch exhaust, extractors, a K&N air filter, a cold air induction, peddars lowered suspension, 16 inch mags, a Kenwood cd player with two 6x9's in the back, two speakers in the front and two 12 inch subs in the boot running off a 600 watt amp. Other smaller mods include an aftermarket steering wheel, tinted windows and a black widow alarm.

The car runs pretty good at the moment and is very fuel economic. As it is though it won't beat any later model commodore.

The car is VERY good looking and as it is my first car I feel privileged to be driving it. At $5500 it is worth every cent. I spent an extra 2800 getting it just right (though it's not quite finished).

Mods I have planned for the future include a Chiptorque HP3 cam and chip and a stage 2 shift kit.